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Estonia’s Software Defined Space Conference coming soon

SDSC Conference banner. Credit: Latvia Space Office

London, 11 October 2023 – Paul Liias, Head of Space at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications for Estonia, has spoken about space economy and cybersecurity ahead of this year’s Software Defined Space Conference (SDSC) in Tallinn, Estonia. Liias suggested that interests and investments are currently driven by rising demand for satellite communications connectivity and earth observation data, combined with external geopolitical factors such as the war in Ukraine and east-west tensions. 

SDSC has grown since its initial event in November 2021, with the new addition of interactive workshops appearing this year. Each workshop will be dedicated to a specific topic including: how space law and space traffic management can work together, how to navigate the US space regulatory system for EU-based companies that want to enter the US market, and how to draft national legislation for space governing. The SDSC will also feature more keynote speakers and panel discussions compared to previous years. 

“Our efforts to date have been on protecting critical infrastructure on the ground such as power stations, energy grids, telecoms networks and government IT,” said Paul Liias. “But the growing importance of the space domain together with geopolitical events of the last few years means we’ve expanded this focus. We now want to apply our cybersecurity expertise to space-based assets – whether it’s mission control centres and ground stations here on earth or manned and unmanned spacecraft above.”

The Software Defined Security Conference will take place at the Mustpeade Maja venue in Tallinn, Estonia. It will take place from Tuesday, 31 October until Thursday 2 November. 

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